Breakthrough Wan-IFRA Membership for APN Print

APN Print New Zealand has become the first
offset newspaper printer in the country to qualify for
membership to the exclusive WAN-IFRA International Newspaper
Color Quality Club 2014-2016.

Inclusion to the Quality
Club, which is recognised as one of the most prestigious
quality competitions in the world, has been a major
objective of APN Print Ellerslie for the last eight years,
says APN New Zealand General Manager of Operations Dan
Blackbourn.

“Standards of entry to WAN-IFRA are
exceptionally demanding, so securing this membership is a
tremendous achievement and recognises an ongoing commitment
from both staff and the management team,” he
says.

“While it took some to reach this status,
learnings gained over the period have proved invaluable for
everyone involved in the process.

“This achievement,
along with the various other quality awards that APN Print
Ellerslie has collected over the years, is testimony of the
pursuit of excellence demonstrated by our team. Our
commitment to quality and service is at the forefront of
everything we do, and we believe that quality print is still
a viable carrier of advertising and news.”

APN Print’s
membership was secured for its printing, which was produced
on a 19-year-old Goss HT70 double-width press “with a team
of skilled craftsmen”.

Inclusion to the club of the
world's best newspaper printers will see APN Print presented
with an official membership certificate at the World
Publishing Expo 2014 in Amsterdam on October 15 this year.
The print firm’s work will also be included in the
subsequent International Newspaper Color Quality Club
Brochure.

Furthermore, membership means APN Print has
already gone halfway towards obtaining certification in
accordance with the ISO 12647-3 printing standard. Securing
the WAN-IFRA Certificate for Standardised Printing will
require the print firm to pass an on-site audit, including a
test production run in the presence of a WAN-IFRA consultant
as well as additional evaluations of the “Cuboid” test
element.

The Ellerslie plant is the first within the APN
Australasian Print Group to gain inclusion to WAN-IFRA and
is only the second print site in the entire Australasian
region to gain this
recognition.

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